To:THE ECONOMIC COMMISSION OF THE C.C., R.S.D.L.P.

Written:Written October 20, 1905, in Geneva and mailed to a local addressPublished:First published in 1926 inLenin Miscellany V.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,[1977],

      Moscow,Volume 43,

      pages169b-170.Translated:Martin Parker and Bernard IsaacsTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

Atthe comrades’ request Igivohere
information concerning the Economic Commission in as precise a form as
possible.[2]

TheEconomic Commission consists of comrades specially appointed by the
C.C. representative abroad.

Atthe present time (October 20, 1905) it includes Comrades
Bonch-Bruyevich (manager of the printing shop), Kruchinina (treasurer and
manager of the forwarding office), Ilyin, Lenina (secretary of the C.C.),
			       Abramov,[1]Knol, Vetchinkin, Ladyzhnikov and Nik. Vasilich.

Generallyspeaking, the function of the Economic Commission is to
handle the business jobs of the Central Committee abroad, and to help the
Central Committee in all its work abroad. This applies to the technical end
(printing, forwarding, and so forth), finances, transport, sending people
to Russia, measures relating to arms, and so on, co-ordinating the work of
all C.C. agents, controlling the work of each individual agent, and so on,
right up to special assignments from the Central Committee.

TheEconomic Commission elects its chairman or secretary, etc., and
distributes work among its members, withthe exception of the appointment of permanent functionaries (in charge of
forwarding, the treasury, the secretariat, printing shop, transport, and so
on), which depends on the Central Committee.

Decisionsof the Economic Commission may be revoked by the Central
Committee or its representative abroad, but are not subject to endorsement
by the C.C. unless this is asked for by some member of the Economic
Commission or unless objections are raised by anyone.

Forthe purpose of control over the activities of individual agents of
the C.C. (the treasurer, secretary, manager of printing shop, etc.), the
Economic Commission appoints comrades from among its members to make a
thorough examination of the whole work of the given agent and to report to
the Commission on measures to improve his work, and also to check up on the
progress of his work from time to time. The only exceptions are special
activities or spheres of activity exempted for one or another reason by the
Central Committee from control by the Economic Commission. The carrying out
of all ordinary and current work undertaken by the C.C. is to be
systematically controlled by the Economic Commission.

TheEconomic Commission helps the Central Committee to direct the
activity of the Committee of the Organisations
Abroad,[3]not in the form of directives to the latter, since it is an
autonomous organisation, but by studying its reports, discussing its work,
examining the organisation of its activities and searching for ways of
improving it.

Ifthe comrades who asked for a more explicit definition of the
functions of the Economic Commission consider it necessary to draw up a
detailed statute, the Economic Commission as a whole should discuss this
statute, after which it would be endorsed by the C.C.

[1]SeeAvramov, R. P.—Ed.

[2]AfterLenin’s departure for Russia in the beginning of November 1905,
the Economic Commission wound up its affairs and sent the library and Party
archives to the ad dress of Branting in Stockholm, where they were stored
for some time in the People’s House (see this volume, Document 135).

[3]TheCommittee of the Organisations Abroad(C.O.A.)  was
elected at a meeting of R.S.D.L.P. groups abroad in December 1911. The
composition of the committee changed several times. At the conference of
R.S.D.L.P. groups abroad held in Berne from February 27 to March 4, 1915,
Nadezhda Krupskaya, Inessa Armand, G. L. Shklovsky, and V. M. Kasparov were
elected to it. During the war the committee was in Switzerland where it
conducted, under the direct guidance of Lenin, extensive work to
co-ordinate the activities of the R.S.D.L.P. sections abroad, to combat the
social-chauvinists and to unite the internationalist Left of international
Social-Democracy.